I’m not crazy. Nope. I am as disgustingly sane as one can be. So, about a year ago, when I saw a dark shape of what appeared to be a man in a cloak, glide from my sight around a corner of a wall, I doubted my sanity. Actually, I just figured it was an optical anomole . I blew it off the first time, but, it appeared to me 3 more times. In every case, the shape was moving, usually, away from me. It seemed as though it wanted me to follow.

The main part of my little house was originally officer’s quarters at a nearby Naval base, moved to it’s present location some years ago. We added on a master bedroom, bath and laundry room. As I began to entertain the idea that I was experiencing a ghostly phenomenon, I considered what I was seeing. Could it be the ghost of one of the officers? Perhaps, it might be the spirit of my ex-husband, who had lived in the house with me until our divorce. He had passed away just a year before I saw the shape, several years after the divorce.

With the current popularity of paranormal television shows, it wasn’t that difficult to find an online source of information. I wanted to know what was going on in my house. I found myself at the “Paranormal State” website and forum. Over the period of almost the entire year, last year, I asked questions and read anything, and everything, I could find online and in books.

What took place, for me, was an opening for me to start exploring my belief system. I won’t go in to that, but, suffice to say, it has been a wonderous journey. I kept a ‘diary’, of sorts, with a collection of articles that intrigued me in my journey. The results are that I have found my place in the scheme of things.

I’m an artist. I have drawn, painted, designed, and created many pieces through the years. Around the same time I started my spiritual journey, I acquired a computer which had Photoshop’s CS3 installed, already. One thing led to another and, eventually, I found another outlet for my creativity – digital (art) design.

I haven’t mastered Photoshop, by any means. I’m a granny, so, I had ventured in to the world of online scrapbooking. I have quite a collection of photos of my 2 little grandbabies. Perusing all the sites and seeing all of the beautiful layouts and designs, prompted me to plunge in to my own experiments with digital images. I am still learning the program.

Since so much of my beliefs revolve around nature, I am keen on creating my concepts. The whole process went hand-in-hand with my spirituality. So, not only am I relishing the beauty of my spirituality, I can ‘celebrate’ with my digital design.

On that note, I have created some layouts, using my spirituality as my theme, so to speak. I am a member of several online scapbooking forums, where they offer challenges in scrapbook layouts and/or design. They have been extremely educational for me. Not only that, but, the folks on these forums are just so darn sweet and helpful. Much of my education has come from these sites.

One, in particular, Magickal Scraps, is ‘right up my alley’. Here is one layout I just completed for “Magickal Scraps”. Their “January Click Challenge”, put on by Tutudragon, required that we explore the macro settings on our camera. There is no one right, or wrong, way to do this. The idea is to experiment and practive. Then, we put our photos in a layout and post them to the gallery. There is a posting bonus for participating in the challenges.

Here is the layout that I did:

My camera is new and I haven’t figured out the best shooting modes. There is a “macro” setting, but, I think I need to experiemnet with manual settings. This challenge showed me a few things, like, tweeking my images after I uploaded them to my PC. In the layout I experimented with some applications and techniques in order to enhance my images.

This next layout is from Magickal Scraps’ January Book of Shadows Challenge. Here, we were to do a layout in celebration of “Imbolc”, which is an old Celtic sabbat. The term comes from an old Irish term, thought to be derived from “ewe’s milk”. The earth has lie dormant throughout the winter. It is this time of year that the first stirrings of rebirth and a fresh new life is breathed into the earth. Bighid is the goddess of fire, an important element to increase the stremgth of the sun. It is the time for the fauna of this earth to reproduce, thus, the ewe’s milk reference. I chose to do a layout featuring Brighid.

The next two layouts are for their January Technique Challenge. I got kind of carried away, I was having so much fun, that I made two. Here, we were to create lace. Here is what I created.

The last one, at this time, is the January Template Challenge. Just as the name implies, we were given a template and asked to do a layout with it. Here is the template:

And, my layout, with a photo of my grandchildren:

It feels so right to be doing something with my creativity that, also, accompanies my spiritual growth. I’m currently working on their Color Challenge, which, if I don’t hurry up and turn it in, will be so huge, it won’t fit. I have just been tinkering with some Photoshop techniques for this kit that I am making. I got carried awqay. LOL

The dark shape? I performed a ‘smudging’ on my house and haven’t seen it in about six months, now. Whoever, whatever, it was, it appears it is gone. I don’t miss it, though it never caused me any fear or discomfort. However, in some way, I am grateful for it’s presence for that is what started me on my enlightening path to discovery of my own personal spiritual beliefs.

I am so blessed!